Dakar Rally 2023 – Team Announcement
MATTIGHOFEN, AUSTRIA – December 5, 2022 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Matthias Walkner, Toby Price, and Kevin Benavides are ready to take on the 2023 Dakar Rally. With less than one month to go before the start of the iconic event, the team will soon complete their final preparations before heading to Saudi Arabia to compete in the 14-stage event, which starts on December 31.
With the 2022 season disrupted both in terms of rescheduled events and injuries, the three-man Red Bull KTM team are now back together and ready to race the upcoming 2023 Dakar. Matthias Walkner returns to rally competition for the first time since the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where he matched his Dakar result of third place. The Austrian rider then underwent much-needed surgery on a shoulder injury that had been plaguing him for some time. Now, close to 100% fit, the 2018 Dakar winner will be aiming to secure a second title at the world’s toughest cross-country rally.
Matthias Walkner: “I’m really excited to take on my next Dakar Rally. It’s always a massive event for us and it’s the one you always want to win. With so many days racing, over so many kilometers, it’s definitely the toughest race on the calendar. It sounds like the organizers have planned an especially tough route for 2023, and with a few rule changes thrown in, I think the race will present a massive challenge. I’m still coming off a year where I missed a lot of races after receiving surgery to my shoulder, so hopefully I don’t get any issues there. But of course the goal is to win. I know I have an amazing team around me, and the bike is working really well right now – all the testing and development has really come together. The Dakar always throws up a few surprises, but I feel I’m super prepared for this one and I’m looking forward to getting started.”
Toby Price endured a tough 2022 season that saw his massive potential knocked by a road book issue at the Dakar, followed by a crash in Morocco later in the year, which forced him to withdraw from the Rallye du Maroc while fighting for the win. However, the experienced Australian knows that anything can happen in rally and has already put his difficult year behind him to focus on the Dakar. Happy with the development carried out to his KTM 450 RALLY machine over the summer’s testing, and…
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